Adventures of a Mascot Maniac

What started out as a nonchalant, pre-Facebook interest in taking photos with mascots and costumed characters has morphed into a full throttle hobby of stalking that involves timing, awkward conversations, and shameless zeal.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

It's the EASTER BUNNY! Snazzily dressed in his best spring Easter attire, Mr. Easter Bunny was on hand (and surrounded by yellow Peeps) to greet his adoring fans at Disneyland's Main Street USA.

Next, thanks to a tip from BXI2 and the spiffy MouseWait iApp, we headed to the Wilderness Explorer Ceremony at the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail at Calif. Adv. to get our pic with Mr. Carl Fredericksen and Russell from the Pixar movie "Up." Carl doesn't usually make fan appearances at all, let alone wearing his bunny ears!! And check out his cane-- tennis balls, garland and all!

But wait ... good thing we stuck around for the Bunny Hop down Main Street featured as part of Disney's Limited Time Magic event lineup. We were first disappointed that it would only be a parade route and there would be no character interaction, but then the parade stopped and various bunnies came hop-hop-hopping down the street and invited guests (kids) to join them in doing the "Bunny Hop" dance. Well gee, that's my invitation! If it were just Rabbit and White Rabbit, I would've remained seated on the curb, but it was ROGER RABBIT and the ever-elusive, rumored-to-exist-only-in-Disney-Paris BR'ER RABBIT! Holy bunny poops, Batman! Heck yeah I'm getting in on some bunny action!!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

This brings the confirmed count to three now that I owe to SXGV. There we are, leaving Mr. Pickles (which, by the way, does not have an active mascot at this location) when we spot a guy exiting the Jamba Juice and taking a seat at one of the umbrella'd tables. It's Jamba Juice Joe, dressed in Bananama attire! I have to hand it to Joe, he was a good sport and mascot'd very well, lots of excitable energy, although I don't know if he has the smooth dance moves that Mr. Pickles used to exhibit. I hope he's reading this!

Monday, October 29, 2012

Not to be snooty (snooty? snotty. snotty?) about it, but I have to take this moment to clarify that real mascots do not accept money in exchange for photos, gropings, or any other such service. But that said, I do applaud and recognize the efforts of ACJ5 and say THANK YOU for keeping a watchful eye out for mascots, any time any place.

Courtesy of ACJ5 and his sorta cousin's husband (he's definitely the husband, she's sorta the cousin. I think.), I present to you the following efforts of the good street people of the Las Vegas Strip:

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Target:
State Farm NeighBEAR, Sporty (from Sport Clips)
Status: Confirmed
Location: In and Around the Alameda State Fair (Pleasanton, CA)

I've seen quite a few mascot costumes in my day, and I'm going to say that Sporty's is one of the coolest designed costumes I've seen yet. This thing is huge, and it's mostly inflatable, so at a glance, it's hard to tell if there's a real person in there. You can't see it in the picture, but the guy's mesh air hole is right about the lettering on his shirt, so he's only 5'4" (standard mascot'ing height, I've learned). We saw the guy get out of the costume too, and talk about traumatizing to the kids .. he has to deflate the costume just to get out!

And then there's the Good NeighBEAR. Contrary to what's depicted in the commercials, this guy doesn't look like he can be ANYWHERE at the sound of the "like a good neighbor, State Farm is there" jingle. He'd more likely be too busy lighting up a fattie in some frat house surrounded by greasy 2-day old pizza boxes and beer cans.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Wouldn't you know it, ACJ5 comes through with another lead, a day late and a dollar short, but a lead nonetheless. His wife, henceforth known as JLFJ, actually got her picture taken with the Kia Soul Hamster. That's right, that hardcore rodent you've seen in the not-so-hardcore Kia commercials actually exists as a mascot! Kia was a sponsor at a particular 5k run supporting breast cancer research and they brought the hamster to town. How awesome is that. If I had known earlier, I would've definitely made the effort to be there. And I don't even run. Ever. I might have to start practicing.

If anyone knows tickle bitties, it would be a hamster .. Seriously, female hamsters are ready to knock boots every 4 days ... you know this guy has his bitches in line!

Friday, October 19, 2012

It's been a while since I've posted, but rest assured that I am back in the game. I haven't been sitting around idly all this time though, so expect steady updates for the rest of 2012. This is, of course, in no small part to the fact that we are gearing up for ... the YEAR OF DISNEY.

If you didn't happen to hear about it, in 2013, Disneyland (and World) will be hosting "Limited Time Magic" weeks, which are special themes or happenings that will change weekly. We are especially excited for "Long Lost Friends Week," when lesser known and infrequently seen characters make regular appearances for guest interactions. We hope Disney finally acknowledges all the Disney Afternoon kids out there and brings out the Gummi Bears. The Gummi's have already been shafted from the Disney Afternoon Vinylmation series, so it's the least they can do.

That said, we are finally going to bite the bullet and invest in annual passes to the park. Disney doesn't half-ass anything, so I expect we'll get our money's worth.

In preparation for what is sure to be a busy year in mascoting, I am going to be posting pics with a fury in the coming weeks to get everyone caught up to date with who all we've successfully encountered. These posts will be short and sweet, heavy on the images, light on the text. Words, who needs 'em, right?